~ Day by day with RA …

Goodbye Kisses

Like most couples that have been together for any length of time, my husband and I have developed our own traditions and routines. Some of these are annual traditions and others are small, everyday rituals.

Our first date was on New Year’s Eve afternoon for oysters and beer. Every year since then, on New Year’s Eve, we’ve gone back to the same little hole in the wall and repeated the tradition of slurping bivalves and suds. To this day he tells people that he was immediately smitten when he saw how much horseradish and hot sauce I put in the cocktail sauce for the oysters. (Actually, it was the infamous 3-inch high heels in the Houston airport a year previous, but that’s another story.)

Every evening (that we’re both in town), we have dinner together and we share goodbye kisses when we leave for the day.

There have been a couple of instances lately where Jack had to leave early and for some reason, it didn’t register that he had left. Even though he no doubt came in and gave me a kiss, it didn’t register that it was the goodbye kiss, and I would wander through the house only to find that he had gone. This may sound trivial, but after 13 years of goodbye kisses, it is a point of consternation. So now we have a running joke. When Jack leaves in the morning, the goodbye kiss comes with a disclaimer: “This is your goodbye notice. This is the last kiss before I leave. I won’t be back to give you more kisses until later today.” That way, I’m clear that he’s leaving the house.

So the end of last week, I did a pre-London check out blog post, saying it would be the last post before we left for our Thanksgiving trip. Then yesterday I did another post (no doubt confusing those of you who are paying attention).

So, in the essence of fair disclosure, this is your goodbye kiss/blog. I am leaving now. I won’t be back until next Wednesday to do another post. Have a wonderful, relaxing, joyful, fun Thanksgiving.